We were flying a deHavilland Twin Otter to JFK (in New York) and it was a beautiful day.  The Otter was a fun plane to fly but not much for passenger comfort (remember December 2002: Excuse me, Does This Airplane Have A Bathroom?).  The airplane was originally designed to fly in "bush" conditions and had excellent short runway performance.  We were not "authorized" to land with full flaps with passengers on board because of the extremely steep angle on final approach.  I only saw it done one time (no passengers were on board) and it was a STEEP final approach. (Can you say "Helicopter"?).  Anyway, we landed at JFK and taxied over to the ramp and unloaded our passengers.  We had over an hour to kill and being the bored pilots that we were, looked around for something to do.  What do you know, the Concorde was sitting across the ramp with the door WIDE open and NO ONE in sight.  We decided to go for a "visit".  We walked across the ramp, up the steps and right on inside.  I am sure if any one would have seen us, they would have seen the big sign on our chest announcing to the world that we had just gotten off the tomato wagon!  The cabin sure was small with tiny windows but I guess you have to give up certain things  in exchange for that kind of speed.  Maybe the sophisticates that fly on that don't gawk out the window like the rest of us.  Next we went to the cockpit to check it out.  We were probably the youngest crew to ever be in the "front office" of that machine.  We never did find the keys.  After fantasizing and hyperventilating for a long time, we sighed and got back into our humble Twin Otter and flew off into the sunset. 

We used to fly back and forth from Lancaster to Philadelphia all day.  The only variety to your day was how many trips that you made.  My wife and two sons (we now have three) came along for an  "outing".  Enroute, I called the Flight Attendant to bring my oldest son, then 3 years old, to the cockpit.  Moments later, the cockpit door opened, he stepped in, the door closed and he climbed on top of my flight bag to look out the window.  We spent some quality father-son time seeing the sights.  I gave him a headset so he could listen to me talk with the controllers during the flight.  It was my version of take your son to work day.  When we got closer to Philadelphia, I called the Flight Attendant and she came and escorted my son back to his seat.  My wife later told me that the passengers seemed quite interested in the small boy that disappeared into the cockpit for part of the flight.  I would not even dare bring someone to the cockpit in the present time but years ago it was no big deal because, "Those were the days".